Prep Girls Hoops: Jensen Blassage helps Paul Perrone to 300th

MACHESNEY PARK - This was supposed to be Paul Perrone's night, but Jensen Blassage quickly made it hers.

And that was just fine with Perrone.

Blassage scored 19 points in the first 13 minutes as Boylan cruised to a 64-38 NIC-10 victory over Harlem and gave Perrone his 300th girls basketball victory.

"I am happy for myself, but I'm more happy for the kids," Perrone said. "It's for them. No coach is successful unless they have quality athletes."

Harlem honored one of those athletes at halftime, Donna (Sholl) Amdur. She played three seasons for Perrone when he earned his first 206 victories with the Huskies.

"I am glad he was there for that also and they were here to see him win his 300th game - not that I wanted to give it to him," said Harlem coach Luanna Kish, who presented Perrone the game ball as both teams applauded.

Boylan (13-4, 5-2 NIC-10) led by at least eight points after breaking away from a 7-7 tie with a 9-0 run.

Blassage scored 11 of Boylan's first 16 points and 19 of its first 32. She finished with 26 points and shot 12-for-16 from the field.

"She can score all over," Boylan's Kayla Steward (13 points) said. "Ask her to do something, she'll do it. By the middle of the game we were like, Game plan? Just get the ball to Jensen."

The 5-foot-8 senior point guard even scored on several post-ups.

"She loves for me to call her a post player," Perrone said.

"I've been playing guard my whole life, so it's fun to be in the post," Blassage said. "I've been getting a little bigger, so I'm able to get in there and bang around with the girls."